These are shots of the modern side of Tokyo, including our
restaurant finding experiences.
Many people advised us to avoid Tokyo and to focus on Kyoto and rural
Japan. While those places are great, I would not miss Tokyo. We had
a blast there, and even though it was a long weekend handled the crowds
and confusion. Though the craze of the Shinjuku train station, the
busiest train station in the world, may not be what you want to dive
into your first time in Japan.
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This sign seems to imply that forward is route #45 and left is route #15, but that these are numbers so this is subject to change. I found it a great, if possibly misinterpreted metaphor of being lost in Japan
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K. Inspects a shop in the plastic food district. All restaurants in Japan, it seems, do their menu in plastic food. They need a place to shop
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K. inspects plastic sushi in the plastic food district. It's pretty realistic.
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In Akihabra, the electronics district, there are these alleyways with tiny stalls, each one specializing in a different kind of electronics. You see the cable guy on my right, and hundreds of others. I bought a big switch from the switch guy.
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This was the entrance of Miyashita restaurant, a really good modern Japanese restaurant at which we spent our last meal in Tokyo. This time we got them to fax us a map! The cab driver eventually figured that out. It was in the Embassy district. Lots of Gaijin in this area.
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Typical video game parlour, of which they are many. This corner featured musical games, with people playing drums and instruments to score points.
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The western style Tokyo main train station
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Crowds of teens in Shinjuku after hours
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I liked the odd refracting beams of light from this Tokyo skyscraper
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In Tokyo, as in much of Asia, the town is 3-dimensional. Every building in the shopping districts has different stores on every floor and often some in the basement. And of course here we see the house of the venerable Colonel. KFCs are everywhere in Japan, almost as popular as McDonardu.
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Entrance street in Akihabra. It seems there are 100 stores the size of Fry's, full of electronics.
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An Akihabra store with an interesting escalator system.
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Entrance to Mikawa Tempura restaurant. Another one Zagat lead us to, it was great, but the cab driver circled for 20 minutes trying to find it even with the Tokyo style address. When we found it (no thanks to cab driver) it was down a small alley. It was a tiny place with the best Tempura you'll ever have.
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It's easy to meet and strike up conversations with westerners living in Tokyo to get advice and compare impressions of Japan. Here are Jon and Nancy, who do a Ron and Nancy impression. Nancy used to live in Tokyo but now lives in the bay area. Small world, but I wouldn't want to commute over the pacific.
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Inside of the Tokyo International Forum, a convention center
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